[Athen] Natural Voices

[Wink Harner]

Lorraine et al ATHEN-ites,

When first trying out text to speech voices with students, I will have
asked them a number of leading questions about what type of voice they like
listening to: male or female, any particular regional American accent, a
British (or other country) voice, fast or slow tempo, high, medium or low
pitch. I will do some research with the principle TTS software providers
and pick out 5 or 6 voices to try out with student directly --I want to
watch their face as they listen to the different voice(s). Knitting their
eyebrows, narrowing their eyes, or eyebrows up, head cocked a little to the
side? The body language will indicate which voices are annoying and which
are more pleasant or acceptable. If the student picks one or two to try out
for a few days and comes back with another "I can't listen to this," I'll
provide them the links for the SAPI voices so they can try them out
themselves. I will encourage them to pick from the free ones, of course,
but helping them walk through the testing out part will help them, in the
long run, find the right voice for their needs.

Hope this helps.
Wink Harner
Accessibility Consultant/Alternative Text Production
The Foreign Type

Portland OR
foreigntype at gmail.com
480-984-0034

This email was dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Please forgive
quirks, misrecognitions, or errata .


On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 8:58 AM Norwich, Lorraine S <lnorwich at bu.edu> wrote:


> Dear All,

>

>

>

> I am working with a student who has sleep apnea and finds reading and

> listening to monotone voices on a  computer triggers her sleep.  She wants

> to try text to speech to keep herself awake.   She finds some of the voices

> very monotonous and difficult to follow.  Has anyone found any voices that

> sound less synthesized and sound more natural that would be helpful for

> this student.

>

>

>

> thanks

>

>

>

> Lorraine

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Lorraine S. Norwich, BSME, MSIS

>

> Assistant Director of Disability Services

>

> Boston University

>

> 19 Deerfield Street, 2nd Floor

>

> Boston, MA 02215

>

> lnorwich at bu.edu (email)

>

> 617-353-3658 (vox)

>

> 617-353-9646 (fax)

>

> www.bu.edu/disability (website)

>

>

> _______________________________________________

> athen-list mailing list

> athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu

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>

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